Wednesday, 4 November 2015

There has been some controversy in our dear Country Nigeria since the coming into power of President Muhammadu Buhari, one of such controversy includes the delay in nominating ministers.

However for whatever procedure that is being followed, there is a laid down constitutional provision for it, which directs the affairs of the executive,legislative and judiciary arm of government. Before laying down our criticisms if any, it is only proper that we look at the constitutional provisions in relation to the path taken by the President and see if the provisions was adhered to or otherwise.

The constitutional provision as contained in chapter 6,
section 147 to 149 states as follows

147.

(1) There shall be such offices of Ministers of the Government of
the Federation as may be established by the President.

(2) Any appointment to the office of Minister of
the Government of the Federation shall, if the nomination of any person to such
office is confirmed by the Senate, be made by the President.

(3) Any appointment under subsection (2) of this
section by the President shall be in conformity with the provisions of section
14(3) of this Constitution:-

provided that in giving effect to the provisions
aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one Minister from each State,
who shall be an indigene of such State.

(4) Where a member of the National Assembly or
of a House of Assembly is appointed as Minister of the Government of the
Federation, he shall be deemed to have resigned his membership of the National
Assembly or of the House of Assembly on his taking the oath of office as
Minister.

(5) No person shall be appointed as a Minister
of the Government of the Federation unless he is qualified for election as a
member of the House of Representatives.

(6) An appointment to any of the offices
aforesaid shall be deemed to have been made where no return has been received
from the Senate within twenty-one working days of the receipt of nomination by
the Senate.

148.

(1) The President may, in his discretion, assign to the
Vice-President or any Minister of the Government of the Federation
responsibility for any business of the Government of the Federation, including
the administration of any department of government.

(2) The President shall hold regular meetings
with the Vice-President and all the Ministers of the Government of the
Federation for the purposes of -

(a) determining the general direction of domestic and foreign
policies of the Government of the Federation;

(b) co-ordinating the activities of the
President, the Vice-President and the Ministers of the Government of the
Federation in the discharge of their executive responsibilities; and

(c) advising the President generally in
discharge of his executive functions other than those functions with respect to
which he is required by this Constitution to seek the advice or act on the
recommendation of any other person or body.

149. A Minister of the Government of the
Federation shall not enter upon the duties of his office, unless he has
declared his assets and liabilities as prescribed in this Constitution and has
subsequently taken and subscribed the Oath of Allegiance and the oath of office
for the due execution of the duties of his office prescribed in the Seventh
Schedule to this Constitution.

The above constitutional provision is self
explanatory, in line with the present nomination of ministers in Nigeria, can
we boldly say that the constitutional provisions have been obeyed.

MINISTERIAL
SCREENING

The senate sets procedure for ministerial screening of its
nominess, however to every rule there is an exception, in terms of screening of
ministerial nominees, some nominees enjoy the privilege of "TAKE A BOW AND
GO"reason being that “it is a privilege reserved for former federal
lawmakers ..... Senator Muhammed Ali Ndume the majority leader had
this to say in relation to the privilege enjoyed by some former senators in
this just concluded screening.

" what we did now was that even if you were a member of
the National Assembly, and you are nominated and because of the respect we have
for our colleagues, you can bow and go, we felt you need to interact with
us and that was exactly what we did on the floor.”
to read further MINISTERIAL SCREENING

In accordance with section 149 of the 1999
Constitution as ammended, it is an exercise to demand for certificate of assets
declaration issued by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) from the nominees.

Section 147(5) makes an important demand that
only a person who is qualified to be a member of the House of Representatives
can be adjudged fit to be screened as a minister of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.

Most of us where opportuned to watch the screening process, i can
easily conclude if i was satisfied with the screening or not but that is a
personal decision for each and everyone of us to make,once you can relate the
nomination and screening process with the constitutional provisions.

the most recent in the news is the fact that some of the minsters wont have a portfolio, again this is raising serious controversy.

MINISTERS WITHOUT PORTFOLIO

According to Wikipedia. A minister
without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who
does not head a particularministry.

kindly comment in relation to the state of
affairs in the Country as it will be highly appreciated.

Monday, 19 October 2015

Almost every single day we
hear,and read news headlines of all sorts of rape incident, which is very disheartening and absolutely
despicable.

In ordinary context rape can be seen as
forcefully having sex with someone against his/her wish or will, especially
using violence. A close analysis of this incidents shows that Over 90% of
predatory sex is perpetrated by males against females. .

There is no
age limit regarding rape as children, babies, adolescents, matured adults,
mothers, grandmothers, and women of over 70 years are being raped or defiled
recklessly. Rape, generally speaking, is an infringement on the rights of
individuals, particularly children and could amount to gross violation of child
rights.

The
act may be carried out by physical force,coercion, abuse of authority
or against a person who is incapable of valid consent, such as one who is
unconscious, incapacitated, or below the legalage of consent.The
termrapeis sometimes used interchangeably with the termsexual assault.

Coming down to the Nigerian Context under the Criminal Code
section 357 and Penal Code section 282 both provide for the offence of rape.
Section 357 of the Criminal Code states that – any person who has unlawful
carnal knowledge of a woman or girl, without her consent or with her consent,
if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of
any kind, or by fear of harm, or by means of fraudulent representation as to
the nature of the act or in the case of a married woman, by impersonating her
husband, is guilty of an offence which is called rape.

The actus reus of rape is having unlawful sexual
intercourse with a woman or man who at the time of the intercourse does not
consent to it. While the mens rea is an intention to have sexual intercourse
with a woman knowing that she does not consent to the act. The offence of rape
embodies society’s view of what is right and wrong in sexual relations. The
guiding principle is that this judgement on what is right and wrong should be
based on an assessment of the harm done to the individual (and through the
individual to society as a whole).

In Nigeria we have
existing laws that punish offenders as provided in criminal code act sections
as follows:

358. Any person who commits the offence of rape is liable to imprisonment
for life, with or without caning.

359.
Any person who attempts to commit the offence of rape is guilty of a felony,
and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years, with or without caning.

360.
Any person who unlawfully and indecently assaults a woman or girl is guilty of
a misdemeanor, and is liable to imprisonment for two years.

361.
Any person who, with intent to marry or carnally know a female of any age, or
to cause her to be married, or carnally known by any other person, takes her
away, or detains her, against her will, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to
imprisonment for seven years.

362.
Any person who unlawfully takes an unmarried girl under the age of sixteen
years out of the custody or protection of her father or mother or other person
having the lawful care or charge of her, and against the will of such father or
mother or other person, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is liable to
imprisonment for two years.

It is advisable that we
always look out for the vulnerable ones in our society in other curb this rape
menace, anyone can be a victim. We all must put our hands on deck, to ensure
that these unfortunate incidents is reduced to the barest minimum.

I will be bringing you
possible ways to curb this menace and reforms in due course.

Saturday, 17 October 2015

Most times we wonder if truly as citizens of Nigeria if we have
legal right? the answer is not far fetched because it is absolutely in the
affirmative, YES WE DO.

The 1999 Nigerian constitution as amended specifically provides us
with our fundamental human rights as enshrined in Chapter 4.this rights are
basic and is meant to be observed stricto sensu. these are the provisions in
summary.

Every
person has a right to life.

Every
individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person.

Every
person shall be entitled to his personal liberty.

In the
determination of his civil rights and obligations, including any question
or determination by or against any government or authority, a person shall
be entitled to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court or other
tribunal established by law and constituted in such manner as to secure
its independence and impartiality.

Every
person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be
innocent until he is proved guilty.

Every person
shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion,
including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either
alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to
manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching,
practice and observance.

Every
person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to
hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without
interference.

Every citizen of
Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any
part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or
refused ent ry thereby or exit therefrom.

Subject to the
provisions of this Constitution, every citizen of Nigeria shall have the
right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria.

No moveable
property or any interest in an immovable property shall be taken
possession of compulsorily and no right over or interest in any such
property shall be acquired compulsorily in any part of Nigeria except in
the manner and for the purposes prescribed by a law.

This is absolutely the law that governs me and you and the
constitution is made available to all citizenry to ensure the least, that you
know your rights, not forgetting to state that there are exceptions to the
above rights stated.

Everyday in this our dear Country Nigeria, we get to see violation
of this rights in one way or the other lets quickly look at these
scenarios.

1.While exiting the mall you unknowingly touched someone, the next
thing that visits you is a very painful slap on your face.

2.You come back from work and hear that your neighbours daughter who
is just (3)three years of age has been sexually molested(raped).

3.Owing to a little quarrel between a husband and wife over his
wife's jovial nature to their male neighbour, the husband decides to lock up
the wife in the house everyday while going to work and release her when he is
back, when he is sure he has his eyes on his the wife and the neighbour.

4.Being a lover of news,you bought a newspaper and on seeing the
recent updates in the country, with your church mind you said a few things at
the newspaper stand, and just after that, you get beaten up badly for airing
your view from the fans of the person you criticised.

All this scenarios constitute some form of violation of our human
right in one way or the other .This latin maxim says "UBI JUS UBI REMEDIUM"
meaning "WHERE THERE IS A RIGHT THERE IS A REMEDY". Dont feel laid
back if your right is violated because

you are not well
placed in the society

or no one will
come to your aid. Your
ability to speak up will afford you the necessary remedy that you
require.Some of these unfortunate scenes can be resolved amicable one on
one ie the minor ones, through alternative dispute resolution, or the
court which is usually the last resort.

Please feel free to let me know some of the instances you feel
constitute a violation,make suggestions, all we want is a country that has less
violations and we can achieve peaceful co-existence.

If you have any legal issues that needs assistance or any area of
law that you would like me to talk on for your interest and others,please do
not hesitate to contact me,as you will be getting a quick response and
solution.kindly send me a mail to zeeeemba@gmail.com.